Mobile Water Treatment Plants for the German Federal Agency of Technical Relief

For missions to ensure drinking water supply in emergencies, the National Procurement Office of the German Federal Interior Ministry has ordered eight new water treatment plants from water technology company Berkefeld for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). The THW water treatment specialist groups are to be equipped with the type TWA 15 UF transportable systems. Berkefeld, part of the Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (Germany), Veolia Water’s technology arm, developed the plants in close cooperation with the THW. The modular, highly-mobile systems encompass various modern process technologies which can be combined with each other depending on the water quality available on-site. Berkefeld supplied the THW with two comparable systems in 2007 which have proved successful in several emergency missions since then.

The aim of the THW with this procurement is to equip its drinking water specialist groups with state-of-the-art technology. The plants will provide the agency with a Germany-wide network of water treatment facilities which also fulfil the German Drinking Water Regulations. This means the plants are approved not only for disaster relief worldwide but also for emergency municipal water supply in Germany. Depending on the combination of the process steps, a TWA 15 UF system provides up to 15 cubic metres of clean drinking water per hour and can if the water is fed into the grid supply up to about 2,400 inhabitants, or about 18,000 if it is distributed in canisters. The plant’s core component is a highly-effective ceramic ultrafiltration membrane with a pore width of 0.1 μm by which viruses and germs are reliably removed from the water. This ceramic membrane is structured as a monolith block and therefore is especially stable. In addition, a disinfection with ultraviolet light and a depot chlorination ensure safe drinking water quality. Upstream are a coagulation and adsorption unit as well as coarse filtration with automatically back-washable disc filters. The system also includes a storage unit for 40m3 of drinking water and a distribution and sludge disposal module.

The Berkefeld plants, which treat well water and all types of surface water in sweet water quality, are suitable for missions to relieve environmental disasters and refugee situations, as part of military operations and for municipal emergency water supply. The plants are to be delivered to the THW within one year.